Teleconference by successful manager– a revealing experience

I had occasion to listen to a teleconference during my stay in USA which was regular weekly meeting between USA group and India support group. Leader of USA group was convener and overall leader of the project. Every member informed his presence by phone. The convener of meeting asked for the proxy for absent members.

He welcomed everybody and narrated point by point last week’s status of progress in detail and all the decisions taken in the last meeting. He then started asking progress done by each member and group. He was quite aggressive and arrogant in demanding the reasons for not meeting the tasks assigned. He reminded that he had given liberty to fix targets to individual members and now they cannot give excuses and he expected more work than the target scope. About the changed or enhanced expectations by client, he commented that target scope must include such eventuality and individual should give revised estimate well in time and not in review meeting. He explained that we are working for the client who is facing stiff competition from other companies and have full right to change the specifications to cope up with change in scenario. He emphasized that we are in this business due to our client. He has employed us and mentioned the principle that customer is always right.

The meeting went on for two long hours and he listened patiently the excuses, complaints, new ideas presented by members but stressed his own expectations and concluded with high expectations from members. If somebody proposed to show interim progress by Tuesday, he demanded, why not Monday. He wanted to be sure about correct estimate and not over estimate. The whole idea of his talk was to keep his group under pressure of commitment, active and struggling to meet deadlines.

I did not like the meeting and the way he handled the things and hated his harshness. I was sure that the feeling of every member was similar as they were going not relieved but with future workload and anxiety. I talked with one participant t, who was a member, his reaction. He said this is normal. But I learned from him that he was most successful leader and always met the targets even though the group was dispersed.

Those who have definite shape with sharp edges only can give shape to others. The flexible body like soft rubber ball or lump of sponge cannot be used as mold for shaping new products. The same is true of molding team members to desired specifications meeting the company goals. The strong leaders always are admired by followers as well as competitors. They rule the game but give unity of command, definite directions and assurance of success needed by followers.